Five goals in his last five games played in La Liga with Real Madrid. A sumptuous goal in his first game in a Euro with Turkey, against Georgia. On paper, Arda Güler’s last months look like the natural and expected explosion of the Turkish football nugget, after half a season recovering from an injury picked up at the start of his first season in Spain.
The 19-year-old left-footer is already one of the darlings of the Santiago Bernabeu. And he has been a star in his homeland for a long time, having spent two years blossoming in the pros with Fenerbahçe. However, not everything is written in this story yet. Because Güler is not indisputable on either side.
In Madrid, the former Fener has shown the full extent of his talent when he has had the opportunity to play. But among Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Endrick, and of course Kylian Mbappé, he will have a hard time making his mark next season. A loan could be the solution… but Real Madrid would categorically refuse to let him leave, says Marca.
Arda Guler
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Great promises at Real… but an XXL squad
According to Turkish media outlet Fanatik, the interested party has decided to cut short his vacation to participate in Real’s American tour this summer, which has pleasantly surprised Carlo Ancelotti. Or how to do everything possible to succeed in this logically very gradual integration in Madrid.
With Turkey, on the other hand, the emergence was expected to be even more frank and rapid. He put everything on his side during his 8th selection, for his team’s entry into the Euro, becoming the youngest player to score on his debut in a Euro, ahead of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. But the next step was a match against… Portugal, which he started on the bench to everyone’s surprise.
The beginning of the “Montella affair” that inflamed Turkey. First there were the justifications of the Italian coach, speaking of “fatigue” and a player “not 100%”, before specifying: “I still gave him time, because good players have to play (…) I don’t want to disturb this great group and I don’t want speculation. We have a united team. Arda (Güler) is an intelligent boy, proud to represent his country, and we exchanged from the end of the first half: we had to be careful of a possible problem.”
Vincenzo Montella at a press conference
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Turkish fans get angry, Federation responds
End of the story? No, just the beginning. Because the images of the next day at training inflamed the Turkish fans, when Montella took a bib from his player to give it to Yusuf Yazici, thus excluding the former from a team exercise. The beginning of a tide of vehement criticism, until a statement from the Turkish Federation.
“Due to a groin pain for Arda Güler, before training, a protocol was put in place by the staff, in agreement with the player: an individual session in order to best prepare for the match against the Czech Republic (…) We would like to remind you that you should not trust social networks,” could be read there.
The networks, a playground conquered by Güler, whose compilations are already on repeat, and who is at the top… of the players who have gained the greatest number of subscribers (more than a million) since the start of the competition, according to a specialist site. He still needs, however, to gain the total trust of his coaches. Will he have it on Tuesday against Austria?
